Quick release buckle

ABSTRACT

A BUCKLE COMPRISING AN OPEN FRAME BENT AT ONE END TO FORM A HOOK FOR SUPPORTING A RING OR OTHER SUCH MEMBER DETACHABLE FROM THE BUCKLE FRAME, AND PROVIDED WITH A TONGUE MEMBER MOVABLE OUTWARDLY TO CONTACT THE HOOKED MEMBER TO THEREBY ENCLOSE THE RING AND MOVABLE INWARDLY TO ALLOW RELEASE OF THE RING. A STRAP IS RECEIVED IN THE FRAME AND A TRANSVERSE RETAINING BAR FOR THE STRAP IS PROVIDED PROXIMATE TO THE HOOKED MEMBER WHEREBY THE TONGUE MEMBER, DISPOSED THROUGH THE RESTRAINED STRAP, IS RESILIENTLY URGED INTO CONTACT WITH THE HOOKED MEMBER.

March '2, 1971 A. A. SCHMIDT QUICK RELEASE BUCKLE Filed Dec. 12, 1968 vW/f/Vfdk atter I. film/I7 United States Patent Oflice 3,566,454 PatentedMar. 2, 1971 3,566,454 QUICK RELEASE BUCKLE Albert A. Schmidt, 4717 DelPaso Court, Los Angeles, Calif. 90032 Filed Dec. 12, 1968, Ser. No.783,229 Int. Cl. A44b 11/28, 11/24 US. Cl. 24-165 9 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the inventionThe field of art to which the invention pertains includes the field ofbuckles, particularly harness and halter buckles.

(2) Description of the prior art Present harnesses and halters,particularly the type used on horses, utilize a plurality of ringsconnected by straps and one or more buckles. Typically, the connectingstraps are sewn, riveted, or otherwise permanently secured to the rings,the rings serving to allow fiex-ure of the harness. In order to attachthe harness, one is required to thread at least one strap through abuckle and threading is required each time the harness is removed andreplaced. The straps utilized in such harnesses are generally of strongconstruction, from /8 to inch thick and are therefore quite difficult tothread and refit. The removal of such harnesses and halters is verytiring and time consuming. Interesting prior art includes U.'S. Pats.277,380, 357,685 and 730,256 which utilize direct support of the harnessring by the buckle; however, in each of these disclosures threading ofthe strap is required each time the harness is removed or replaced. Aneed therefore exists for a means for quickly and easily releasing andrefitting a harness.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention presents a quick releasebuckle that can be utilized to allow the quick and easy release andrefitting of a harness or halter or other strapping, including ordinarybelts. The present invention eliminates the need for rethreading theharness or belt strapping, but allows quick release thereof and quickrefitting. Once the buckle of the present invention is fitted to thebelting or strapping, no further threading is ever required for its use.

The present invention utilizes a buckle that is modified from its normalform by providing the lower end thereof with a strap retaining portion,by upturning the bottom of the buckle to form a hook to support aharness ring or like member, and by extending and bending the tongue ofthe buckle so that the resiliency or tension of the strap through whichthe tongue is disposed urges the tongue against the hooked bottomportion of the buckle. The tip of the tongue is curved outwardly forcontact with an inner surface of the hooked portion of the buckle toenclose the harness ring on the hook. Retention of the harness ring isassured by two successive factors in the life of leather: (1) thespringiness of a new strap will hold the tongue against the hookedbottom portion of the buckle;

(2) with age and oiling the leather will progressively lose itsspringiness, allowing the weight of the halter lower portion to hold thetongue against the hooked bottom portion of the buckle by tensioning thestrap.

When it is desired to remove the harness ring, one need merely push thetongue in toward the strap and out of contact with the hooked portion ofthe buckle, whereupon the harness ring can be lifted from the hookedportion for disconnection. Upon release, the tongue springs back intocontact with the hooked portion. In order to reconnect the harness ringto the buckle, one need merely place the ring on top of the junctionbetween the tongue tip and hooked buckle portion and pull downwardly.This action shifts the tongue rearwardly to the strap until the ring iswell seated within the hooked portion, whereupon the springiness ortension of the strap forces the tongue outwardly to again abut thehooked portion to thereby secure the ring. In such connection, rearwardmovement of the tongue is obtained by merely sliding the harness ringdownwardly. The resultant efiect is that the harness ring can beconnected to the buckle with only one hand by downward snap-in movement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of ahorse harness utilizing a quick release buckle of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a buckle of this invention with a strapthreaded therethrough and enclosing a harness ring, prior to releasethereof; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the buckle of FIG. 2 during release ofthe harness ring therefrom.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. 1, a harness 10 is shownattachable to a horses head and having a plurality of harness rings 12,connecting straps 14 and a head strap 16. A buckle 18 of this inventionis connected to one of the harness rings 12. The head strap 16 isthreaded through the buckle 18 and retained therein with the buckletongue 20 disposed through one of the holes 22 in the head strap 16 forthat purpose. Once the harness 10 is fitted to the hose with the headstrap 16 threaded in the buckle 18 and secured by the tongue 20, it canbe removed from the horse by merely releasing the harness ring 12 fromthe buckle as will be described below.

. Referring to FIG. 2, the buckle 18 comprises an open frame member 24of spaced side members 26 and 28. The side members 26 and 28 areconnected at one end by a transverse bar 30 and the other ends arecurved upwardly and joined to form a hooked member 32, which may becurved inwardly, as shown.

The tongue member 20 is formed with an eye 34 that pivotally engages thetransverse bar 30 so that the tongue 20 swings between the frame sidemembers 26 and 28. The unattached end of the tongue member 20 is curvedto be convex outwardly and is provided with an out-turned tip 36 to abutthe center of the hooked member 32. An enclosure for the harness ring isthus formed and con stitutes the tongue member 20, hooked member 32 andframe side members 26 and 28.

A cross-bar or bail 38 is provided at the bottom of the buckle extendingrearwardly thereof opposite the hooked member 32. The bail 38 serves asa retaining bar to retain the strip (shown in shadow 16) against pivotalrearward displacement which would occur in the absence of the bail 38.The strap 16 is secured in the frame 24 by disposing the tongue member20 through one of its holes 22. In this position, the thickness andspringiness of the strap 16, typically of leather, or tension from theweight of the halter, urges the tongue tip 36 against the hooked member32 to effectively secure the harness ring 12 in a locked position.

In order to release the harness ring 12, one need merely push the tonguemember 20 in toward the strap 16 (as indicated by the arrow 40) to theconfiguration shown in FIG. 3. Referring to FIG. 3, the harness ring 12can now be lifted from the buckle 18 by a rolling action of the ring 12(as shown by the arrow 42 to be completely released therefrom. Thespringiness or tension of the strap 16 then returns the tongue member 20with its tip 36 resiliently urged against the hooked member 32.

The hooked member 32 is curved inwardly toward the side members 26 and28 to prevent the ring 12 from sliding between the hooked member 32 andthe side members 26 and 28, but to allow the ring 12 to rollingly passtherebetween. In this regard, the ring 12 can be retained on the buckle18 without the tongue member 20, but some positive, locking action isachieved with the tongue member 20.

In order to reconnect the assembly, one need merely place the harnessring 12 on the juncture between the tongue tip 36 and hooked member 32and pull downwardly. This action shifts the tongue member 20 rearwardly,against the resiliency of the strap 16, until the harness ring 12 isseated within the hooked member 32. The springiness or tension of thestrap 16 will then snap the tongue tip 36 outwardly to again abut thehooked member 32 to thereby secure the harness ring 12. This spring-likeaction of the tongue tip 36 results in the harness ring 12 being snappedinto place on the hooked member 32 by merely sliding the harness ring 12onto the buckle with a downward motion.

It will thus be seen that a buckle has been described that is quicklyreleased with a minimum of effort. Once the strapping has been insertedinto the buckle, it need not be removed or reinserted. To utilize theharness one need merely place it on the horses head and snap the harnessring into place on the buckle, which action can be done with one hand.To remove the harness, one need merely push the tongue in and lift upthe harness ring.

What is claimed is:

1. A buckle, comprising:

a frame defining an opening for receiving a strap;

a hooked member on said frame at one end of said frame opening forsupporting a member detachable from said buckle;

a tongue member pivotally connected at the opposite end of said frameopening and formed for disposition through a strap threaded through saidopening at a point between said hooked member and said pivotalconnection, said tongue member being formed with a tip which by means ofpivoting of said tongue member about said pivotal connection is movableinto contact with said hooked member to a closed buckle position forenclosing said detachable member and movable out of said contact to anopen buckle position for allowing the release of said detachable member;and

means for restraining said tongue from moving out Of contact with saidhooked member.

2. The buckle of claim 1 wherein said tongue member is disposed to beresiliently urged by said strap into said contact with said hookedmember.

3. The buckle of claim 1 in which said restraining means is formed toretain said strap against displacement from said frame.

4. The buckle of claim 1 wherein said tongue member has a tip curvedoutwardly for contact with an inner surface of said hooked member tothereby prevent outward movement of said tongue but allowing inwardmovement thereof.

5. The buckle of claim 1 wherein said frame is bent at one end to formsaid hooked member.

6. The buckle of claim 1 wherein said frame is provided with atransverse connecting bar at said opposite end on which said tonguemember is pivotally connected.

7. The buckle of claim 1 wherein said restraining means comprises aretaining bar disposed across said frame at said one end of said frameopening wherein said strap may be disposed between said retaining barand said hooked member to be thereby restrained from displacement fromsaid hooked member and thereby resiliently urge said tongue member intosaid contact.

8. The buckle of claim 5 wherein said frame is formed with a transverseretaining bar at said one end of said frame opening and a transverse"connecting bar at said opposite end for said pivotal tongue memberconnection, said strap being disposable between said retaining bar andsaid hooked member to be thereby restrained from displacement therefrom.

9. The buckle of claim 1 in which said detachable member is formed witha rounded surface and said hooked member is curved inwardly, toward saidframe, to prevent said detachable member from sliding between said frameand hooked member but allowing said detachable member to rollingly passtherebetween.

References Cited

